Middle School Snapshot State Reports Science Report for California Middle Schools Grade 4 Science Report (PDF) Grade 8 Science Report (PDF) Reading Report for California Middle Schools Grade 4 Reading Report (PDF) Grade 8 Reading Report (PDF) Mathematics Report for California Middle Schools Grade 4 Math Report (PDF) Grade 8 Math Report (PDF) Writing Report for California Middle Schools Grade 4 Writing Report (PDF) Grade 8 Writing Report (PDF) MIDDLE SCHOOL SNAPSHOT STATE REPORTS These Snapshot State Reports summarize the state's performance in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in science, reading, mathematics, and writing for grades 4 and 8. Select a grade and subject to see a PDF of the report. Achievement and Trends Each snapshot begins with a graph and summary comparing the most recent state results to the nation’s results and to earlier state results. The graph illustrates the proportion of students who performed at four levels: below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced. The graph thus allows a quick impression of performance trends in the state. The writing, reading, and science snapshots graph the performance of students at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles over the past decade. Science Fourth and Eighth grade assessments were conducted in 2009, covering Earth, Physical and Life Sciences and evaluating students’ aptitude for conceptual understanding, scientific investigation, and practical reasoning. In the center of the page, a graph breaks down the most recent scores by gender, ethnicity, and eligibility for subsidized school lunch. An analysis of these results appears beneath on the left. Reading For both 4th and 8th grades, results are available for assessments between 1998 and 2009. For both grades, the assessment measured students’ ability in reading for literary experience and to gain information; the 8th grade assessment also rated ability in reading to perform a task. In the center of the page, a graph breaks down the 2009 scores by gender, ethnicity, and eligibility for subsidized school lunch. An analysis summarizing these data is given beneath on the left. Mathematics Results for both 4th and 8th grades are given for eight assessments over nearly two decades, the most recent assessment being from 2009. The assessment evaluated students’ understanding of mathematics concepts and their ability to apply mathematics to everyday situations. Students demonstrated their knowledge of these critical skills by responding to questions about number properties and operations, measurement, geometry, data analysis and probability, and algebra. This snapshot is organized differently from those for reading, writing, and science; a map illustrates the state’s rank, with higher-scoring states in green and lower-scoring states in red. Writing For 8th grade, assessments were conducted in 1998, 2002, and 2007; the most recent 4th-grade assessment was in 2002. The assessments were designed to measure students’ ability to write for a variety of purposes: narrative, informative, and persuasive. Students were prompted with a variety of tasks, such as writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper, offering advice to younger students, reporting to a school committee, and writing a story based on a poem. Since only one year has been assessed, there is no comparison of previous years; rather, a chart shows the raw scores out of a possible 300 for students at the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile ranks. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences (IES).